Hey i got some questions about starting off with DWC!

ok ima just list em off lol im a total n33wb at this just beginning it!

1. do the baskets actually sit submerged under the water? if so how much
2. how big of a container do i need? can the roots grow horizontally if the container is wide?
3. when i clean the resivour like i have read, do i save the existing water or replace completely, what do i do with the pants in the down time and will exposing roots to the light harm the grow?

thanks guys!

wassup, welcome to riu.
1. No, the baskets sit above the water level and the bursting bubbles will wet them.
I was skeptical at first but after I had my setup running for like a minute the whole inside of the res was dripping from the bubbles busting all over the place.
2. I would say at least 5gal per plant. Yes the roots will grow into any shaped container, just make sure you have bubble stones along the whole bottom of the res.
3. You can either drain, clean, and refill completely. Drain some and replace some. Or, just top off with fresh water and fill to the level you need.
During down time, you can buy a same size res and move the plants over while you clean the current res or place the plants somewhere that the roots will hang.
Exposing the roots to SOME light every now and then while cleaning or adding food wont harm them at all.
It's the nutrient filled water that causes problems when catching light. Make sure you black out your res so NO light can seep through to the water.

nice one pwizzle
dont know if he will rep ya but i will

Best thing to do IMO is to go to your local home improvement store and buy 5 Gallon BLACK paint buckets and then go to the hydro store and get some netpots..they should have net pots that fit over your paint bucket. get you some air tube from walmart and the small bubble stones. they are like 2 dollars for 2 of them. then just run the tube through the hydroton rocks in the net pot to your air pump and have the bubble stone in the water and the reason for the buckets is because most people want to grow more than one strain and when using ONE resovoir there can be many problems that arise with the nutes and the diff strains. In my grows I actually fill the 5 gallon buckets up with about 4 gallons of water so yes the bottom of the pots should b in the water when using a bubble stone atleast until your plants have developed enough rootmass to where they are always submerged in the water, but even then I always fill up the res almost to the top because when plants get big they can eat alot. but to elaborate more on that...when you are starting off a seed in rockwool cube you have to keep the rockwool wet and also a seedling is developing roots so you will have to fill the water up to where its always bubbling and hitting the rockwool cube atleast so that it stays moist. without doing this you will have to constantly water it because no water is touching the cube/ roots...trust me I made this mistake when I first started and my plant took forever to grow because I didnt put enough water in the res and the roots never got anywater. and to answer your last question you will want to change your water atleast every week just to get a fresh start. when you look at the water after about a week it will be NOT AS clean as it was when you first put it in lol because of the nutes and stuff. but in between time just check the PPM and when the ppm goes up just top off with fresh PH'd water and when the PPM goes down the add more Nutrient mix so that you will always maintain a steady balance.

Hey everyone thank you very much for your replies if its not too much trouble do you think any of you can answer me some questions i have about a sick plant i got but its not hydro. and i will rep i just dont know how if someone will enlighten me lol

I dont know much about soil but Go ahead I'll see if I can help

what plant dude

pwizzle said:

wassup, welcome to riu.
1. No, the baskets sit above the water level and the bursting bubbles will wet them.
I was skeptical at first but after I had my setup running for like a minute the whole inside of the res was dripping from the bubbles busting all over the place.
2. I would say at least 5gal per plant. Yes the roots will grow into any shaped container, just make sure you have bubble stones along the whole bottom of the res.
3. You can either drain, clean, and refill completely. Drain some and replace some. Or, just top off with fresh water and fill to the level you need.
During down time, you can buy a same size res and move the plants over while you clean the current res or place the plants somewhere that the roots will hang.
Exposing the roots to SOME light every now and then while cleaning or adding food wont harm them at all.
It's the nutrient filled water that causes problems when catching light. Make sure you black out your res so NO light can seep through to the water.

Click to expand...

That's some helpful info thanks pwizzle!

1. Yes and No.

While you place clones/rockwool cubes/ etc in the basket (which sit in hydroton), You let the water sit about 1" above the BOTTOM of the basket so the water can reach the roots that have barely/havenot yet formed.

Once your roots begin to form/reach the basket, you then lower the water level to 1" BELLOW the basket.

2. 5GAL buckets Home depot/hydro store/lowes

3. After 10-14 days, drain ALL of your system and replace with fresh water/nutes

While draining (if not using a res) -- I would suggest having another 5gal bucket to place your plant in with net pot until you are finished working on draining/refilling.

hope that helps

Let me know your problems I am a pretty good and knowledgeable with soil. I am lurking the hydro forums thinking about getting my feet wet.

First things first if i were you i would def go and get a blue lab ppm/pH tester. With this you can constaintly check the water becasue hydro is not forgiving what so ever they are about 300 dollars but well well worth it.

Keep ph at 5.8 "its safe here you wont get root rot"
At the start stay around 300-400ppm and go up from there as they drink the water
keep water at luke warm.......again keep from root rot
DO NOT let basket sit in water, your baby will get root rot

I check water 2 times daily "36 plants all in their own single 5gal buckets". I use "as a member said in a earlier post" just use a CLEAN 5 gal buck to put the basket in while you check the water. LONG TIME IN THE GARDEN BUT WELL WORTH IT!!!!

I add water as needed

I run 5 gal of 1/3 nuitreint that is pH'ed per basket every week " you will get salt build up if you dont do this and will kill plant "BIG THING TO MAKE SURE YOU DO" Killed almost my whole first crop by not doing this!

Any questions let me know but just remember it takes them a while to get going......they probably will have a purple stem "expecially a clone until about 8 inch tall" then they will take off i have seen 2inches a day on a ak47xnevills haze in veg and a 7inch in one night in bloom I LOVE DWC!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, first off thank everyone who has helped me out and answered some n3wb questions that i had. second off the problem i am having is located at the link i posted on the 1st oage called "someone please help".

well with my setup all done i got a 16qt sterlite container with two net pots diagonally from eachother filled with coconut pieces and rockwool. i have a 3.2 l airpump and 4" waterstone. i plan on adding 2 more though to increse the O ^-^